What If?
by Laura-Emily
Summary: What if Andy hadn't died, and neither had Prue? What if the source had taken over Cole's body and Prue was still around? what if Paige came to find her sisters and they became the power of 4? REPOST
1. Denials

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HEY! We're back!! Sorry we had to post again... but there were some minor problems with some other author or something so we decided to fix some things up... as well as the layout and stuff like that. And I'm reminded to tell you that AHEM that this story is _Close_ to the story _Letting Go_ by Shell, but is entirely our own work and any similarities are simply coincidental. Ok... so now that's over with... lets get on with it.  
  
You are Reading--- 'What if' By Laura-Emily   
  
**Chapter 1- Broken Slumbers**  
  
A sigh escaped Andy as he was, yet again, ripped from the land of nod, by the sound of insistent crying.  
  
"The third time in the last 5 hours!" he thought with exasperation after a glance at the clock on his bedside table. As he sat up, his wife beside him muttered incoherently and he shushed her with a simple:  
  
"I'll see to them Prue, you just sleep." With that he slipped out of bed and crept towards the door, carefully shutting it not to wake Prue, though there was no need. She had always slept soundly since the birth of the twins, the only thing able to wake her being the imminent attack of demons. Her ability to sense it in her sleep was still puzzling him, even now, 2 years after his discovery of her secret.

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Leo was also awakened by the sounds of crying, but not from sleep. He had been deep in thought, his main concern at that late hour the fact that he couldn't sleep. Barely able to contain the groan that accompanied any disruption of his deepest thoughts, he began to climb the Manor stairs, to sleepy to even orb.  
  
Andy reached the twins' room nursery after Leo did. The room was a soft shade of yellow with two cots near the window and an array of toys and other nursery necessities.  
  
Leo was bending over at the cot on the right about picked up his nephew, whose face was red from crying. Seeing Andy in the doorway, he paused about to hand the mischievous little man over to his father, but Andy looked so tired that it struck a chord in his heart.  
  
"Leave the little man to me. God knows I could do with some practice" Piper was 4 months pregnant and judging by her size, another set of twins was imminent.  
  
"Well if you're sure?" Came the sleepy reply.  
  
"Gosh man, you look as if you need matchsticks to prop open your eyes. I can't sleep anyway. You go back to bed and don't worry about a thing. If the little guy wakes again I'll make sure he's fine."  
  
With a look of gratitude and a simple- "Thank-you" Andy headed back to bed, and his wife, who was still sleeping.  
  
He heard neither the sounds of singing coming from the nursery nor the cries of his other son, who awakened soon afterwards.

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Next morning, the reasonable hour of 7am (well with two babies in the house what else can you expect?) found Andy, Piper, and Phoebe in the kitchen.  
  
"What really gets to me is that even the nightshift never took this much out of me. I haven't been this tired since my first days on the job when I tried to party all night and work all day." Andy's comment was not unusual these days. With everyone helping make sure Andy and, in particular Prue, got enough sleep, everyone was helping out with the nightshift of looking after of the twins.  
  
"Maybe its time we got some help in, what with Piper's two on the way as well." Phoebe, now completely over Cole, or so she kept telling everyone, was full of advice to her two older sisters, even though it was hard to bear the fact that they, and not she, were having kids. It made her feel left out, however much Piper and Prue tried to make up for it afterwards, when they discussed all the things new mother's, and mother's-to-be discuss.

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The dark haired woman sat at her computer in her busy workplace. The buzz of people passing and the smell of the coffee from the tearoom were driving Paige Mathews insane! She had to get out of there. Ever since she had found her Birth mother, she had trouble concentrating on the simplest things. She picked up her jacket and left. She had to talk to the Halliwell sisters.

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It was late at night and Phoebe had been woken once again by the twins. She had walked towards the room where they slept and peeked in. Neither Prue nor Andy had been to attend them. She walked up the crib.  
  
"You know. If you don't stop crying Aunt Phoebe is never going to get her beauty sleep. And that's not a good thing." she spoke in Baby talk.  
  
The very same that she used to use on Cole to get her own way. She thought of him like this. All the time. Just simple things. Like if she's in the wine stall she finds herself asking herself if it's something that he would like. She still half expected him to be there beside her when she woke up in the morning. She actually wanted him to be there too. She picked her little nephew up and cradled him in her arms. His little cries stopped almost immediately. She always was good with kids. Or so she was told. Her sisters always said what a good mom she would make, and she always wanted kids, but she had never found the right person to share the joy with.

Well actually she had but she had trouble admitting it. The twins reminded her of her own baby. The one she lost. She was told that it was never her baby, and that it was the Source, but Phoebe had carried the baby for two months. She had felt the Morning sickness and then she had seen him on the monitor at the doctors. He had moved. Inside of her. No one else. She had shared his small life with Cole. Not the source. Even if he had been the Source at the time, he was still there. Phoebe had fallen in love with Cole, NOT the source.  
  
'O.k. that's enough of thinking about Cole.' Phoebe thought to herself. 'I've been swooning over him for the past 7 months, no more. And by the looks of it someone needs a new diaper' Phoebe smiled as she bought the baby to the change table and cleaned him up.

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It was once again late at night. Piper had crept down to the kitchen to get herself a midnight snack. As she made her way to the refrigerator, she heard one of the twins wailing. She wondered if she should go up and see to him when the crying stopped. She quickly figured that someone had gone up to see to them, and averted her attention back to the fridge. When she opened it her nose was met with... the most disgusting smell she had ever encountered. It was enough to make her puke!

Piper's Pregnancy had made her nose overly sensitive to the smell of eggs. Leo had been eating scrambled eggs for dinner and Phoebe had cooked too much, so as if it was a normal thing in the Halliwell manor the leftovers were placed in the fridge. Piper quickly closed the door and made herself comfortable at the kitchen table, which wasn't easy as she was showing enormous signs of pregnancy at just 4 months. Just as she was comfortable she heard someone coming down the stairs. Her motherly instinct said for her to panic, but her common sense kicked in, which was just as well because it was only Phoebe coming down the stairs. She stopped as she saw Piper. Her plan was to come down to the kitchen and make herself busy so she wouldn't start crying about Cole, which was pretty much all she did when she was alone.  
  
"Hey Phoebes" Called Piper softly.  
  
"Hey Piper. Twins wake you up too?" Answered Phoebe.  
  
"No I just couldn't sleep. And I was hungry... but that's normal... you know Being Pregnant and all." Phoebe didn't answer her. She just smiled a distant smile.  
  
"Phoebes? Are you O.k.? You've been a little... Well... Distant lately. Do you want to talk about it?" asked Piper in a sisterly manner.  
  
"No. I'm fine. Don't worry about me." Phoebe answered, once again Distant.  
  
"But that's the thing. I am worried about you. I can't help it." When Phoebe didn't respond piper asked hesitantly:  
  
"Its Cole, isn't it?"  
  
"No!" Phoebe answered all too quickly to believe when she shot up at the mention of his name.  
  
"Phoebe..." Piper exclaimed sternly. "You can't lie to me." Piper added.  
  
"What makes you think I'm lying?" Phoebe insisted.  
  
"I'm your sister... and besides I know that it's been so hard on you these past months. What, with the divorce and all."  
  
Phoebe's body jolted at the word DIVORCE. She never wanted to divorce Cole; she just felt she had too. She had to keep up her reputation to run when disaster strikes. When Grams got sick she ran to New York, and then came back after a pretty bad break-up with Clay. (Which her sisters didn't know about) then when Grams died she ran back to New York, only to find herself homeless and jobless, and that was when she came back to live at the manor. Which pretty much brought her to Cole. Face it, if she had never found the book of shadows and read the incantation she and her sisters would have never became the charmed ones and therefore Belthazor would have never have been sent to kill them. So the whole divorce thing was a substitute. If she couldn't leave her sisters and run, she would run away from Cole. The Divorce was the perfect answer. It wasn't the one she would have desired... Hell... It was the exact opposite. She wanted nothing more than to be with him and to be experiencing the things her sisters were. The Beginnings of a family. Sure she loved her little Nephews... but she wanted more. She needed more... she needed Cole.  
  
"Jeez Piper, I'm getting tired. I need to go back to bed." Said Phoebe trying to avert to more discussion about the D word. So feigning tiredness she left the table and headed toward the stairs, hoping that it would take her sister a long time to stand up. Phoebe didn't want to be chased.  
  
Piper watched her sister going up the stairs. And wondered what she was going to do about her.

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Yay! First Chapter! Please read and Review so we know your thoughts and feelings about our fic. You can even suggest some things to us, to make our story better if you wish. If not, just review to say you read it. You didn't have to love it... but just let us know that you read it!!!

We will post the next chapter as soon as we come up with a title for it!


	2. Questions

BHey guys... we're Back!!! Sorry bout the wait! But here's the next chapter of /Is 'What if?'/B  
  
Oh and by the way... thanx Princess Pinky for your review... Me and Emi believe that Andy being killed off was wrong and that Phoebe and Cole belong together. Hope you keep reading and please feel free to review and suggestions and hints you may have that may help. Thanx Again!  
  
Now... on with the show... or story... wateva...  
  
Chapter 2 Questions  
  
Start Chapter 2  
  
"Prue, I'm really worried about Phoebe."  
  
"Yeah me too. Maybe we should go and Vanquish Cole once and for all."  
  
"PRUE!!! He /I her. She /I him. It's just like you to act like that."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Prue answered looking hurt.  
  
"Ohhh come on Prue. Face it! You never liked Cole. You were just worried of your own well-being. You never cared that Phoebe loved him. You constantly picked on him and accused him of stuff he never did."  
  
"That's not true! I based my accusations on Fact!"  
  
"Ooh I get it now. You just hated the fact that Phoebe was finally happy. Some times I begin to think that you don't like Phoebe."  
  
"Piper, that's ridiculous! She's MY sister too! I love her. And just because I happen to not like her love interests has nothing to do with that!"  
  
"Then what does it have to do with huh?" Piper was already yelling at Prue and Prue figured that she should just leave to prevent an all-out war between herself and Piper. So instead of answering she stormed out of the room and up the stairs to Phoebe's room.  
  
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Paige Mathews stood outside on the curb in front of the Halliwell manor. She was contemplating on whether or not to go and introduce herself. What would she say? How would she say it? As she was about to walk up the stairs she stopped herself.  
  
"What the hell am I doing?" she spoke out loud to herself. She stood for another second and then walked off.  
  
######  
  
Phoebe was lying on her bed. She had been this way for a long time. Ever since her conversation with Piper at around 3am. It was now 6pm and she had barely moved. If she concentrated hard enough she could close her eyes and imagine that Cole was there. She could still smell his scent from where he lay next to her. It didn't have any particular smell it was just Cole. But then her dream was crashed into reality as she opened her eyes and all that was there was a crumpled bed sheet. She sat up and took out a box from under her bed. It was a box where she used to keep her treasured possessions as a child. Her lucky stone, a picture of her mother, her father, Prue, Piper, and herself as a family, a triquetra pendant that was given to her by Grams when she felt scared. At first this thing to her had just been a pretty necklace with a weird symbol on it. But now it made sense.  
  
But all these things were now gone. The rock, probably thrown out or lost in the middle of some place she'll never be again. The picture, on her wall in a new frame. The pendant, now stashed away in her jewellery box. The box would have been empty, but now it was used as a box where Phoebe could look back on the wonderful years she had spent with Cole.  
  
As she opened the lid she was met with Cole's deep blue eyes staring back at her. A Photo she had taken of him and her after he had lost his powers. Under that a piece of paper she had ripped from the book of shadows. The one that she had written on after she had broken up with Cole. About his human side. And once again under that was something that was wrapped in white tissue paper. Phoebe took it out of the box and unwrapped it.  
  
Inside was a tiny babies' garment. A white flannelette body suit with a single brown teddy bear embroidered on the collar. It had the new baby scent even though it had never been warn. A single tear fell from Phoebe's eye when she thought about her baby. Cole had bought this along with a gazillion other things on the day she told him she was pregnant. That fateful day where Phoebe had found out the truth about her husband and he had manipulated her and took her to the underworld.  
  
Just then Prue entered and saw the suit.  
  
"Ohh my god Phoebe! That is soooooo cute!"  
  
"I know," answered Phoebe without hiding it.  
  
"Piper will love it!"  
  
"Uhhh...Pru...." Prue cut her off.  
  
"So when are you gonna give it to her?"  
  
"Ummmm... I'm... Not sure yet." Said Phoebe lying through her teeth.  
  
Prue had been up feeding the twins when she saw the headlights of Pipers car light up outside. She went over to the window and looked outside. There she saw Phoebe drive off. She quickly went and told Andy where she was going then woke Piper up. Luckily there was no one on the roads at that time of night so it was easy for them to follow Phoebe to her destination. Which was the cemetery.  
  
"What the hell is Phoebe doing here?" asked Piper in annoyance, who had only time to throw a dressing gown over her pajamas as Prue had been rushing her out of bed.  
  
"I don't know." Whispered Prue as they watched Phoebe enter the mausoleum.  
  
End chapter 2  
  
B So guys... what did you think??? Y is Phoebe sneaking off in the middle of the night? Please read and Review... That's right... Click the little Button down there in the left hand corner!!! Your feedback is really appreciated!/B 


	3. Inner Desires, Revealed

B Hey guys... we're Back!!! Sorry bout the wait! But here's the next chapter of I Laura-Emily /I s 'What if?' BTW thanx for the reviews... not that there were many... but for those who did review thanx very much. Hope you keep reading and please feel free to review and suggestions and hints you may have that may help. Thanx Again! /B 

lets get it started....

Just a recap, Prue is alive, married to Andy and has twin baby boys. Piper is preggers with yet another set of twins and her and Leo r still together. Phoebe is still working at the paper, and she is dwelling over Cole. Cole is alive, not mental and he is also dwelling over Phoebe. Paige is there and she is just trying to figure out how to approach her sisters.

Ok... I hope that suits you... if not, just go and read chapters one and two.

Chapter 3 Inner Desires

Start Chapter 3-

Inside, Phoebe made her way down the stone steps. She placed her bag and took out 5 white candles placed them in a circle and lit them. The candles in the dark, made the cavernous place alight with a warm glow, but still the foreboding chill still remained. It was tradition to honor a fallen Halliwell on the anniversary of their death...or birth... even if her son was hardly ever alive it still felt right. Then she took the white baby suit out of the bag and held it close to her as she said a simple spell.

I "Here these words.

Hear my cry spirit from the other side.

Come to me, I summon thee.

Cross now the Great Divide." /I 

For just a second, Phoebe had thought that the spell had not worked. But then a familiar chime and a flicker of the candle tips told her otherwise. Phoebe clutched the tiny baby suit to her tear-stained face as she watched the figure inside the circle become corporeal.

"Oh sweetie... don't cry. 


End file.
